Market News

With traders digesting the latest batch of earnings news, stocks ended Friday's trading modestly higher after a relatively lackluster session. The major averages ended the day just above the unchanged line but still managed close higher for the sixth consecutive week. The major averages moved to the downside going into the close, ending the day modestly higher. The Dow closed up 5.90 points or 0.1 percent at 8,131.33, the Nasdaq closed up 2.63 points or 0.2 percent at 1,673.07 and the S&P 500 closed up 4.30 points or 0.5 percent at 869.60.
Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday as stronger-than-expected results from bellwether companies gave investors more reasons to hope the worst of the global recession was over. European markets were mixed in early trade. Most Asian markets followed Wall Street's overnight advance, with technology shares like Japan's Sharp and Toshiba among the day's best performers, as the region headed for its sixth straight week of gains. Oil prices and the dollar sank modestly.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added 152.32, or 1.7 percent, to 8,907.58 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng pared gains to close up 18.28 points, or 0.1 percent, at 15,601.27. India's main index advanced 2.8 percent while Australia's benchmark shed its gains to close slightly higher. Shanghai's stock index, which has soared almost 40 percent this year on hopes government spending and other measures can help protect China's economy from the downturn, slipped 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6 percent. Taiwan's main stock measure posted the day's steepest losses, losing about 4 percent, after a spectacular run-up in recent weeks.
The European markets rose for the second day on Friday, as banking stocks rallied after US lender Citigroup reported better-than-expected first quarter results. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips closed 1.23% higher at 811.90 points, while the narrower DJ Stoxx 50 index rose 1.21% to 1,996.04 points.
Around Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rose 0.98% to 4,092.80, while France's CAC 40 index climbed 1.77% to 3,091.96 and Germany's DAX index surged up 1.46% to 4,676.84.



Market News
Euro Tumbles To 1-month Low Against Dollar
Friday during early deals, the euro plummeted to a 1-month low against the dollar after the European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the central bank should do everything possible to restore confidence and support growth, leaving room for further interest-rate reductions.
Speaking at a conference in Tokyo on Friday, Trichet emphasized the need for price stability. He stated that ECB policy was "geared" towards price stability and that such measures would also lead to financial stability as a whole. Nonetheless, he believes that inflation expectations are still firmly anchored.
On April 2, the head of the European Central Bank hinted that policy-makers for the 16-nation currency could announce further non-standard policy measures in the next rate-setting session in May.
In comments following the bank's decision to cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.25% earlier this month, Trichet also signaled that there is still room to cut the benchmark interest rate for Euro zone and said the world economy is undergoing a severe downturn.
Dollar Closes the Week Strong
The dollar strengthened in the broad market once again on Friday led by the euro which dragged the other European currencies with it. ECB President Trichet’s speech was the catalyst after he failed to reassure the market that policy makers are on the same page with respect to interest rates.
The Swiss franc and the pound followed suit by weakening against the greenback, the franc also had the added pressure of disappoint retail sales numbers. Higher equity markets buoyed the Australian and Canadian dollars as well as the Japanese yen.
Preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment came in above expectations at 61.9, higher than the 58.4 that was anticipated. The dollar closed the week mixed against the other major currencies but sentiment ending the week is certainly dollar bullish. Of course that can change very quickly.
Next week’s economic calendar is free from any important US releases until later in the week, but there are plenty of red flag releases from all the other regions, which means the greenback may move in response to regional strength/weakness.
Yen Soars Against Franc, Pound
In early European deals on Friday, the yen rose to a 17-day high against the franc and a 2-day high against the pound as Japan's consumer sentiment rose to a five-month high in March, a sign that the recession in the world's second-largest economy is easing. The yen recovered from a 3-day low against the dollar, while it showed modest strength against the euro.
A report from Japan's Department of Economic and Social Research Institute showed on Friday that the consumer confidence index rose to 28.9 in March from 26.7 in the previous month. The improvement in the index was close to the expected level of 29. Consumer confidence increased for the third consecutive month in March after falling to 26.2 in December.
Elsewhere, the latest regional economic report released by the Bank of Japan showed on Friday that economic conditions had been deteriorating significantly in each of the nine regions in Japan, although there were slight regional differences. At the same time, seven of the regions lowered their assessment from the January report.





MARKET-LAST WEEK
The US data releases had a mixed impact over the week while risk appetite was relatively steady and attention switch more towards the Euro-zone over the week as policy uncertainties increased. ECB council member Weber made potentially significant remarks. He stated that inflationary pressures were continuing to ease which suggested the scope for lower interest rates. Very importantly, Weber also suggested that non-standard policy measures would probably be introduced at the May council meeting.
The US consumer spending data was weaker than expected with a headline 1.1% decline in retail sales for March while there was a core 0.9% fall, although there was an upward revision to the February data which offset the impact.
Initial jobless claims fell to 610,000 in the latest week from 663,000 previously which suggests that the rate of layoffs may be slowing slightly, but continuing claims were again above expectations at a record level above 6.0mn. The steep rise in continuing claims will continue to act as a drag on the economy and restrain confidence.
The dollar weakened sharply on Monday, reversing gains seen at the end of the previous week with lows close to 1.34 as liquidity was limited. Over the remainder of the week, the dollar edged firmer and pushed to 1.3050 after breaking important Euro support levels near 1.31. The yen was trapped in narrower ranges over the week with the dollar consolidating around the 99.50 level. The markets looked to challenge technical levels, but moves quickly reversed as there was little confidence in underlying trends.
The UK fiscal conditions were watched closely ahead of next week's annual budget and fears over the debt outlook tended to restrain Sterling. The budget deficit is expected to be over 10% of GDP for the current fiscal year which will certainly limit the scope for any further fiscal measures to support the economy.
Sterling pushed to highs just above 1.5050 against the dollar, the highest level since the beginning of January, but failed to sustain the gains and dipped to lows below 1.4800 on Friday. Sterling also retreated from highs near 0.88 against the Euro.
The dollar found good support close to the 1.13 level against the Swiss franc and strengthened to highs near 1.1680 on Friday. The franc initially proved resilient against the Euro and strengthened to test levels below 1.51 before weakening back to near 1.52. National Bank Chairman Roth stated that intervention would continue as long as needed.


IMPORTANT ECONOMIC DATA (04-21-2009 TO 05-01-2009)
Date Time* Source Description
4/21/2009 01:30 AUS Reserve Bank's Board April MInutes
4/21/2009 03:30 AUS RBA Governor Stevens Speaks in Adelaide
4/21/2009 06:00 GE Producer Prices (YoY)
4/21/2009 08:30 UK CPI (YoY)
4/21/2009 09:00 EU Zew Survey
4/21/2009 12:30 CA Wholesale Sales MoM
4/21/2009 13:00 CA Bank of Canada Rate
4/21/2009 21:00 US ABC Consumer Confidence
4/21/2009 23:50 JPN Merchands Trade Balance Total
4/22/2009 01:00 AUS DEWR Skilled Vacancies MoM
4/22/2009 01:30 AUS Consumer Prices (YoY)
4/22/2009 08:30 UK Bank of England Minutes
4/22/2009 08:30 UK M4 Money Supply (YoY)
4/22/2009 09:00 EU Euro-Zone Govt Debt/GDP Ratio
4/22/2009 11:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
4/22/2009 11:30 UK U.K. Chancellor of the Excequer Makes Budget Statement
4/22/2009 12:30 CA Leading Indicators MoM
4/22/2009 14:00 US House Price Index MoM
4/22/2009 23:50 JPN Foreign Buying Japan Bonds
4/23/2009 01:30 AUS New Motor Vehicle Sales YoY
4/23/2009 03:00 NZ Credit Card Spending (YoY)
4/23/2009 08:00 EU Euro-Zone Current Account nsa
4/23/2009 09:00 EU Industrial New Orders YoY
4/23/2009 10:00 UK U.K. CBI Quaterly Industrial Trends Total Orders
4/23/2009 12:30 CA Retail Sales MoM
4/23/2009 12:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
4/23/2009 12:30 US Continuing Claims
4/23/2009 14:00 US Existing Home Sales MoM
4/23/2009 14:30 CA Bank of Canada Monetary Policy Report
4/23/2009 23:50 JPN All Industry Activity Index (MoM)
4/24/2009 08:00 GE IFO-Expectations
4/24/2009 08:30 UK GDP (YoY)
4/24/2009 08:30 UK Retail Sales (YoY)
4/24/2009 12:30 US Durable Goods Orders
4/24/2009 14:00 US New Home Sales MoM
4/26/2009 23:01 UK Hometrack Housing Survey (YoY)
4/27/2009 06:10 GE GfK Consumer Confidence Survey
4/27/2009 08:30 UK BBA Loans for House Purchase
4/27/2009 14:30 US Dallas Fed Manf. Activity
4/27/2009 23:50 JPN Retail Trade YoY
4/28/2009 01:30 AUS NAB Business Confidence
4/28/2009 05:00 JPN Small Business Confidence
4/28/2009 10:00 UK U.K. CBI April Distributive Trades
4/28/2009 13:00 US S&P/CS Composite-20 YoY
4/28/2009 14:00 US Richmond Fed Manufact. Index
4/28/2009 21:00 US ABC Consumer Confidence
4/28/2009 22:45 NZ Trade Balance
4/28/2009 23:01 UK GfK Consumer Confidence Survey
4/29/2009 03:00 NZ Money Supply M3 YoY
4/29/2009 04:00 JPN BOJ Traget Rate
4/29/2009 08:00 GE Bloomberg Germany Retail PMI
4/29/2009 08:00 EU Bloomberg Eurozone Retail PMI
4/29/2009 09:00 EU Euro-Zone Consumer Confidence
4/29/2009 11:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
4/29/2009 12:30 US GDP QqQ (Annualized)
4/29/2009 18:15 US FOMC Rate Decision
4/29/2009 21:00 NZ RBNZ Official Cash Rate
4/29/2009 22:45 NZ Building Permits MoM
4/29/2009 23:15 JPN Nomura/JMMA Manufacturing PMI
4/29/2009 23:50 JPN Industrial Production (YoY)
4/30/2009 00:00 AUS Conference Board Leading Index
4/30/2009 01:00 AUS HIA New Home Sales (MoM)
4/30/2009 01:30 AUS Private Sector Credit YoY%
4/30/2009 05:00 JPN Housing Starts (YoY)
4/30/2009 07:55 EU Unemployment Change (000's)
4/30/2009 09:00 EU Euro-Zone CPI Estimate (YoY)
4/30/2009 12:30 CA Gross Domestic Product MoM
4/30/2009 12:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
4/30/2009 12:30 US Continuing Claims
4/30/2009 13:45 US Chicago Purchasing Manager
4/30/2009 14:00 US NAPM - Milwaukee
4/30/2009 20:15 US Bloomberg FCI Monthly
4/30/2009 23:30 JPN Natl CPI YoY
4/30/2009 23:30 AUS AiG Performance of Mfg Index
5/1/2009 01:30 JPN Labor Cash Earnings YoY
5/1/2009 05:00 JPN Vehicle Sales (YoY)
5/1/2009 09:30 UK M4 Money Supply (YoY)
5/1/2009 14:00 US U. of Michigan Confidence
*Time listed are GMT